A Japanese journalist who openly admits to being a 'friend' of ISIS commanders has said he will do 'everything' in his power to negotiate the release of two men held hostage by the Islamist militants.

Kosuke Shamil Tsuneoka, who claims to have developed deep contacts within ISIS, appeared on Japanese television to say he is willing to step in and negotiate on the hostages behalf.

However, he says the authorities refuse to speak to him as he may be prosecuted under Japanese terrorist laws after being stopped from travelling to Syria last year.

Police are said to allege he was planning to escort one young would-be jihadist to the country - a charge he denies.

The journalist, who converted to Islam, has faced criticism after he was pictured holding a gun in front of the ISIS flag - a picture which he described as nothing more than an 'amusing souvenir'.

Friend or foe? Pictures of Tsuneoka like this one, in front of an ISIS flag, have raised eyebrows in his home country. But he claims he could help free the two Japanese hostages being threatened with execution

A video of journalist Kenji Goto and military contractor Haruna Yukawa, kneeling in orange jumpsuits next to a hooded man, was released earlier this week, demanding $200m from Japan in return for their release.

If the demands were not met, then they would be the next victims of executioner 'Jihadi John', the video claimed.

Tsuneoka offered the Japanese government help dealing with ISIS on a post on his Google Plus page on Wednesday and again at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.

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'Despite being detained illegally by Tokyo police and suffering a house search, I am willing to cooperate with the foreign office and even the police for the purpose of rescuing Japanese hostages,' he said.

But Tsuneoka, who converted to Islam about 15 years ago and is one of the only journalists who have been allowed in to report from inside the caliphate, has warned he will only be able to negotiate if the Japanese authorities give him 'space'.

'We cannot make an attempt to make a contact with them right now as it contains risks to our contacts, now that Japanese police have traced down information of the contacts of Islamic State and are now bugging them,' the foreign correspondent wrote on his blog.

ISIS has said they will release journalist Kenji Goto and military contractor Haruna Yukawa - who have been seen in this video - in return for $200million - the amount Japan has pledged to help fight ISIS

Tsuneoka claims his links to ISIS led to him being invited to Syria last September by the militants to act as an interpreter and translator for the 'trial' of Yukawa last October.

Trials of hostages are common practice within the Islamic State, according to Tsuneoka.

'An invitation came to me from ISIS commander Omar Ghabah, one of the high up militants, ' the source revealed.

'I was making plans to be there to do what he could for Yukawa who was a hostage of ISIS and was to be tried under Islamic law.'

But he was unable to travel to Syria after the Japanese authorities seized his passport, after they accused him of helping one young man's attempt to reach the country, where the student allegedly planned on becoming a fighter.

But Tsuneoka said that, contrary to what the police believe, he was detained just as he was about to leave Japan for Syria to help Yukawa.

He claims to have known the approximate whereabouts of Yukawa at that time - and claims a botched rescue attempt by the US last year means the hostages have since been moved.

'Last September, ISIS contacted me and asked me to meet Mr Yukawa. They said, they will arrange a meeting in Rakka - so I guessed Mr Yukawa was somewhere nearby,' he said.

But the foreign correspondent has already raised eyebrows in his home country when pictures of him posing with a Kalashnikov in front of an ISIS flag emerged.

The 45-year-old has also been photographed with militant 'Sheikh Omar the Syrian', raising his index finger - a gesture which has become a sign of ISIS' cause.

He revealed in a piece piece written for France24: 'Sheikh Omar the Syrian, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,...accepted me and treated me as a friend.'

Tsuneoka - who says he cannot see the moral problem with befriending jihadists - went on to claim the pictures were just 'amusing souvenirs'.

Symbol: Tsuneoka has also be photographed with alleged ISIS militant 'Sheikh Omar the Syrian' with his index finger raised - a gesture which has become a symbol of militant's cause

'As for those photos with me holding a gun under the Al Qaeda banner, let me assure you that I don't know how to use firearms and that these pictures have no political intent. They are amusing souvenirs, nothing more,' he wrote.

He is now calling on the Japanese government to appoint him and leading Japanese Muslim professor Hassan Nakata to negotiate a settlement over the two Japanese hostages.

The two claim to have built trust by using the Muslim network and offering humanitarian aid.

'Myself and Mr Nakata are eligible for such negotiations because until last October, we had been communicating each with a direct subordinate (executive) under the delegate in charge of kidnapping Mr Yukawa. At that time, they told us that, they will not request ransom or either display execution of hostage,' he said - although he did not say why ISIS commanders changed their minds about the ransom.

Tsuneoka - who was kept captive for five months in Afghanistan in 2010 - was also highly critical of the way in which Japan handles hostage negotiations.

'I know enough about this type of ransom demand,' he told TBS. 'I was also kidnapped before in Afghanistan.

'Despite a flood of type of blackmails from my embassy asking randomly for my release, the Japanese Embassy corresponded with my captors in an extremely cold manner. But, in the end, I was released thanks to my own efforts.’

Tsuneoka - who says he was dubbed Mr Genki the Cheerful One by his captors - say he was released when it became clear no ransom would be forthcoming from the Japanese.

However, other reports say he was released after tricking his captors into allowing him to send a message on Twitter, which he was using under the guise of teaching them about the social network.

The Japanese foreign ministry says the kidnappers have made no official contact with the Japanese government so far and declined to comment on Mr Tsuneoka or Mr. Nakata's offer of opening up communications with IS.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - pictured with his wife Akie - has said he will stop at nothing to secure the release of the two hostages

The country has a mixed record on paying ransoms to hostage takers.

In 1977, the then Japanese prime minister, Takeo Fukuda, drew accusations of caving in to terrorists when he paid a $6million ransom to Red Army members who had hijacked a Japan Airlines flight en route from Tokyo to Paris, forcing it to land in Dhaka.

The deadline for the ransom payment is expected to come just before 3pm on Friday.